Syndicated Columnists

Economic Mobility

March 5, 2013

Most people are not even surprised any more when they hear about someone who came here from Korea or Vietnam with very little money, and very little knowledge of English, who nevertheless persevered......

Comments

KalvaChomer

Contrary - "Capitalism guarantees a significant failure rate. That is why we need the social safety net."

Ahhh, Thomas Sowell, a "real" economist !

One who knows that the "social safety net" in the Soviet system, which had every power and opportunity to make socialism work, cured the problem of wealth disparity - they were all poor ! Until it collapsed !

ContraryOne

"We should be concerned with the economic fate of flesh-and-blood human beings"

Yes, and those 10% at the bottom of the intelligence scale have no chance to move up no matter how hard they try. Capitalism guarantees a significant failure rate. That is why we need the social safety net.

flyonthewall

"But the very opposite conclusion arises in studies that follow actual flesh-and-blood individuals over time, most of whom move up across the various income brackets with the passing years. Most working Americans who were initially in the bottom 20 percent of income-earners, rise out of that bottom 20 percent. More of them end up in the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent."

The question now is where are those moving up located? If you think it's rural America, think again. Study after study shows those moving up are in urban areas. Other data show a population shift away from rural to urban. Rural versus urban poverty is higher. There's more data to be found including median income levels that vary by thousands, rural versus urban.